Page 32 of Irresistible

“I was worried you were going to be all up in my business and you have been…but it turns out I like your business in my business.”

He gave her a good squeeze and laughed. “I knew my plan was going to work.” Running his hand up and down her back, he felt her relax into his embrace. “I’m greedy, Lilly. That’s another deadly sin that I find has a grip on me. I keep expecting my need to diminish to a reasonable level and it hasn’t.”

“You’re not telling me anything that I haven’t already figured out.”

“I thought I’d been hiding it. In fact, I was sure of it.”

“Not so much.” Patting his chest, she gave him an encouraging smile. “We might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Have a feeling it’s not stopping anytime soon, if ever.” After kissing her head, he released her and walked toward the door. “Call me if you need anything.” When she waved and went back to folding laundry, he smiled. The sooner he left, the sooner he could come back.

***

Brock sat at his desk in the busy squad room and did the thing he hated most: paperwork. He hadn’t kept up with it during the week, and it was now biting him in the ass. As he worked on an incident report, Pete walked over and parked himself on the corner of his desk. “Hey, man. I wanted to give you a heads-up. I got a call from a buddy, and he let me know that Ruth has been released from the forensic unit over at East Louisiana State Hospital. Apparently, she’s been rehabilitated.”

A cold chill ran down Brock’s back as he sat up. “How in the hell did that happen?”

“I’m guessing it was a matter of overcrowding,” Pete replied. “I sent you an email with the contact information for the person who’s overseeing her transition.”

“I wonder how much supervision she’s going to have and where they plan to house her.” He dug his phone out of his pocket and groaned. “I’ve got to let Lilly know. The hospital is only two hours away.”

Pete stood and looked across the room. “I guess the thing with you two is on?”

“Yeah, sure is.” He glanced up at his friend and cringed. Pete looked like someone had kicked him, and he felt like a total shit. But there was nothing he could do. The fact of the matter was that he and Lilly were always meant to be together. They’d just had to wait until their timing worked. Not that any of this explanation would make a damn bit of difference to his friend. “Lilly and I have been a long time in the making. This isn’t something that started last month or even last year. I’ve known her since I was ten, and some part of us started on that day.”

“Whatever.” Pete started to walk away and then stopped. “You can call me if you need backup.”

“Thanks, man.” Lifting his phone, he called Lilly and prayed he could come up with a way to tell her without scaring her. Not that she would ever admit to it. The call went to voice mail, so he called her landline and repeated the process. When that call went to voice mail, he wondered where she was. She hadn’t said anything about her plans, so he had no idea. Which pissed him the hell off.

He quickly texted her and asked her to get in touch with him ASAP. If he was lucky, she would get back to him right away. Leaning back, he wondered how cooperative she was going to be with his ideas about security. He’d already started securing her house and was waiting on the visual and audio equipment to arrive this weekend. Once he installed that, it would be very difficult for anyone to get at her. That is if she stayed in the house. Which wasn’t going to happen.

Maybe he could talk her into a second dog. One that was trained to protect her and Popcorn. As much as he loved the dog he’d gotten her, he wasn’t very effective in deterring anyone from harming Lilly. The dog was a lover, not a fighter, which wasn’t going to help anyone if Ruth decided to get in touch with Lilly again.

The best thing he could do was gather as much information as he could. He had no idea what the procedure was for someone being released from the forensic unit. Opening his email, he read the contact information that Pete had sent. Better start there and see what they were dealing with. The best scenario would be that Ruth was under twenty-four-hour supervision as a condition of her release. She should at least have an ankle monitor. He wrote a quick email and sent it off. If he was lucky, he would hear back today, and then he could formulate a plan to ensure that Lilly was safe. The hard part would be getting her to agree with it.

He was fairly confident that his idea of safety measures and her ideas were light-years apart. The only hope he had in getting her to agree was to make her as satisfied and as happy with him as he had last night. The discussion of safety measures would definitely start with them naked.

---